In many real estate developments, the space required to park passenger vehicles is a large part of the cost. It is desirable to minimize this cost. An automated parking structure in which vehicles are parked in close proximity without the space needed to open and close doors or for people to enter or exit the vehicles can increase the number of vehicles parked in a given volume or surface footprint. Such structures may use vehicle moving equipment to pick and place the vehicles into parking slots. These structures usually require that various parts of the parking structure, including the transfer room(s) through which the vehicles enter and leave the parking structure, have fixed elements that, in these designs, are required to interact with some form of vehicle moving equipment. For example, some automated parking structures require that the transfer room have a floor with one or more open slots through which parts of a vehicle transfer apparatus can pass. In these systems, the vehicle moving equipment is thicker than the space allowed by the vehicle ground clearance. Slots are therefore required to enable the prior vehicle moving equipment to pass under the vehicle body so that it may engage the vehicle without damaging its bodywork. Similar slots are then required in the parking storage space to allow the vehicle to be placed there by the prior vehicle moving equipment. These slots, grooves and similar accommodations add cost and complexity to the parking structure. Further, they make it difficult to change the size of a parking space as the slots, grooves or other accommodations are often integral with the fixed floor and can not be moved or easily modified. Finally, the addition of slots, grooves and similar accommodations may increase the thickness of each parking floor, thereby potentially reducing the number of parking floors possible in a structure of a given height. However, as vehicle demographics change, it may be desirable for a garage operator to be able to either widen or narrow the parking spaces to maximize revenue at that facility or adjust to a change in the size mix of vehicles using the facility.
Pending International Patent Application PCT/US2007/072938, International Publication Number WO 2008/045606 (the “International Publication”), describes certain structures and methods for use in the automatic parking of vehicles in a parking structure comprising a series of vertically spaced floors providing parking spaces for the vehicles. The contents and disclosures of International Publication Number WO 2008/045606 are incorporated herein by reference.
The structure described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 in the International Publication includes a vehicle transporter 18, a lifting platform 26 and a dolly 30. As shown in FIGS. 5-13 of the International Publication, the dolly 13 is dimensioned and arranged to pass underneath the vehicle to be parked and between that vehicle's wheels. Four pairs of engagement arms 64a-64d carried by the dolly can be inserted under the vehicle and deployed to engage the tires of the vehicle and to lift the vehicle from the floor of the parking structure for movement onto or off the platform 18.